


Transformers (OC) Story Collection

by SemiMythril



Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Bonding, Claustrophobia, Cybertronian cursing, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Cybertronian Civil War, Reconciliation, Swearing, angry ironhide, i write way too much about thunderbolt, so you're going to see a lot of her, some ooc for good measure, there will be angst too dont worry, thunderbolt is my main oc btw
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:47:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25551529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SemiMythril/pseuds/SemiMythril
Summary: A collection of all the short stories I write about some of my Transformers OCs. There's no real order to it, and I'll be updating the tags and other things as I go along. Each chapter will list the characters involved alongside the summary. So you might have to go through the chapter summaries to find something you like. Apologies ahead of time.There will be a little of everything by the end of this. Some oc/canon, canon/canon, oc/oc, etc. Most of these were only ever meant for me (to read and be happy lol), so apologies if the stories seem choppy at times. I did my best to try and clean up the sloppy self-indulgent writing style.
Kudos: 2





	1. Claustrophobia (ft. Ratchet and OC)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Transformers Rescue Bots Academy - featuring Ratchet and OC Thunderbolt
> 
> takes place in an AU I have for Thunderbolt, where she is Ratchet's cadet/student in RBA. They are currently stationed on the planet Algona and have been cooped up inside for two weeks. That's not a problem for a grounder, but for a seeker, there can be consequences...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is also my first time writing something like this, so feel free to leave constructive criticism in the comments!

Nightmares were almost a foreign concept to her, as they happened so infrequently that they might as well not exist. The way Thunderbolt saw it, there weren’t really any reasons for her to have nightmares. Her life was relatively calm, save the occasional medbay rush. Sure, she was a field medic in training, but the “in training” part of that title meant she hasn’t seen battle yet. Although she was confident that once she did, she’d be more focused on helping bots than her own fears.

The only issue with having nightmares practically never, was that once she did, they tended to be...vivid, to put it mildly. After all, certain conditions had to be in place for them to occur at all.

For the past two weeks, Thunderbolt and Ratchet had been cooped up inside an Autobot base stationed on Algona, a desert planet of rolling dunes and dead forests. There have been several reports of six or seven rogue Decepticons causing troubles for the Autobots there. And in the multiple attempts to solve the problem, the two medics have been busy repairing bots left and right. Thunderbolt would focus on the injuries she knew how to repair, and Ratchet would work on everything else. With her assistance, of course.

It was the first time in a long while where Thunderbolt had gone such a long time without going outside. And at first, it didn’t bother her in the slightest. She had figured that several days inside were nothing for her job. To be fair, she thought the injuries would’ve stopped after a week.

Next thing she knew, two weeks later and the two medics were still busy with monitoring critical patients and performing various patch jobs on the more functioning ones. At this point, she was becoming mildly worried about being inside for so long.

It was at the end of that second week when it happened. Both medics were recharging, which was a rare occurrence in the field of medicine. But after a lack of rest from the two of them, they managed to come to the agreement that they would sleep as long as the other did as well. Her room was a makeshift one they had made out of a spare room attached to Ratchet’s. The medbay had only come with one, and the two agreed that privacy was a right they both needed. Thunderbolt didn't really mind since she didn't have a lot of personal belongings with her anyway. It was kind of small, but she was a small bot with lots of growing to do, so there was nothing really wrong with that either. She would just ignore the strange feeling she got whenever she entered the space.

When she woke up next, her room wasn't there. Instead, she was on the floor of a large, grey room. The walls and floor were a dark grey color, and the ceiling was pitch black. Curious, she tried walking around. The cube-shaped room was massive, but as she took a few steps forward, she could feel the room moving with her. Thunderbolt kept walking, slowly at first, trying to see if it was possible to reach one of the walls by creeping up on it.

No luck.

So she tried sprinting at the wall. The wall only seemed to move away faster, matching her speed equally. She activated her heel thrusters and flew at the wall. Same result.

What was going on with this room? Was it even a room? It felt more like a hallway than a room to her. So she stopped flying and landed, the wall stopped with her. It was then, as she surveyed her surroundings more closely, that she felt a small weight on her chest. Her servo drifted over the area cautiously as she tried to identify it.

It wasn’t painful, but it felt...familiar. And not in a comforting sense. But it wasn’t causing her any problems, so Thunderbolt ignored it for now. She continued walking and the wall continued moving with her. But this time, it felt like it was actually getting closer. So she started going a little faster and confirmed it was definitely getting closer.

With each step, the weight on her chest seemed to get a little heavier. Something in her spark was starting to ask her to stop, but Thunderbolt was way too curious to stop now. So she kept walking.

Soon, not only was the weight begging her to stop, but her wings were as well. She could feel them pull towards her body, screaming to be still. Their sensors were all tingling which sent a gut-wrenching feeling through her tanks. And part of her wanted to listen. But something kept pulling her forward. It could’ve been her curiosity, but as she continued walking, the more she felt it wasn’t her pulling herself forward.

Every step became more and more painful, and within moments, panic started to settle in her spark. Not only was the wall in front of her getting closer, but she could feel all the walls simultaneously getting closer as well. Each movement made the cube around her grow smaller, and she felt her breath hitch in her throat. This was bad.

Her external sensors were blaring warnings all over her HUD to stop moving, to just stay in place, make it stop. And she tried. Thunderbolt tugged hard the force pulling her towards the wall, begging it to let go. To her horror, it pulled back, even faster than before. She was slowly moving faster and faster with each desperate tug at the string dragging her along. She yanked her arm back, it would guide it further. She willed her legs to stop moving, digging into the ground, and a hand felt like it was shoving her forward instead. Her sensors were practically collapsing on themselves as her struggle turned more into a terrified flail. She needed to stop. She wanted it all the stop.

Ever smaller the walls kept getting. The pitch-black ceiling provided only a hard void to limit her vision. Her wings were being crushed beneath the weight of the room as it shrank. She could almost touch the wall in front of her when she so desperately didn't want to. Her anxiety spiked as the rapid pace of her spark became more intense, threatening to not only tear itself from its spark chamber, but implode. It felt like she was being ripped apart from her seams and cables then compacted into his little cube. Thunderbolt shut her optics tightly, trying to drown out the fear and panic settling deep in her body, twisting itself into endless knots of dread, until she wanted to throw up.

When she dared open her optics again, she was back in her room. The small side room off of Ratchet's. The force that had been dragging her across the floor was gone, but the knotted dread and deep-seated panic remained. None of that had changed. Her chest was still in immense pain, and she could hear her own breaths coming out ragged and heavy. But now she was in charge of her movements. And her immediate thought was " _get outside, **now**_ ".

Thunderbolt crawled off her berth and stumbled over the door. She could normally fly to access the panel above her, but her wings refused to spread in desperation to stay intact. She attempted to jump high enough to reach the panel, and each failed attempt made the weight grow. The thought of being stuck in her own room with her anxiety drove her higher until she made contact with the button. The door slid open and she barely acknowledged the fact Ratchet was sleeping just across the space.

_" **Run.** Get out. Leave. Must leave."_

Her thoughts were all otherwise incoherent as she sprinted over to the next door, the one to the medbay, and hopped up to open it. This one took fewer attempts to open and she didn't bother to try and close the door behind her as she was on to the next door. The door into the hallway.

She made that one on the second try and was off, sprinting down the halls towards the exit. The weight surrounding her was getting heavier each second, and Thunderbolt wrapped her arms around herself to try and stay somewhat calm.

_"Just get outside. You'll be fine. Just need to get outside."_

Her peripheral vision started to blur as the walls became background colors to her panic. Soon, she barely could comprehend the fact she was moving. Her legs moved instinctively to where she knew the exit was without her needing to actively register what was happening.

Her body rounded the last corner and in front of her was the large hangar-like door that leads to the outside.

_"Almost. Almost out. You'll be fine."_

Thunderbolt staggered over to the side where the control panel rested in the wall. It was higher here than it was on the other doors. But she was determined to get it open as she began jumping up to reach it. She was able to use small bursts from her thrusters to boost her higher into the air, and it wasn't long before she managed to hit her mark.

Only she was met with nothing. Just a harsh ' _beep beep_ ', then nothing. Becoming increasingly scared and frustrated, she tried again. Same results.

She was about to try a third time when dread slammed itself headfirst into her chest. Her spark stopped as it dropped to the pits of her tanks, making her want to throw up for the second time tonight. How...how had she forgotten...

_They lock all external doors at night._

Her vision faded in and out as she fell backward into a sitting position, unable to stand any longer. The only way to get in or out at this time was with high-level clearance. Clearance she, as a cadet, didn't have.

Thunderbolt pulled her legs to her chest as the sinking fear of being stuck inside dawned on her. Her sight blurred as tears welled up in her optics, not wasting a second in falling down her face. Her intakes hitched as she wrapped her arms around herself, clinging to her sides while her wings pressed against her body. She realized, barely, that she had begun to hyperventilate. She couldn't focus, couldn't think straight.

Panic growing, she realized Ratchet could have opened the door. He was the CMO, he definitely had the clearance. But she had been too desperate to get outside to wake him up. A fatal mistake that was way too late to correct. Even if she so very wanted to, Thunderbolt couldn't move. Her whole body was shaking far too much to even think about moving from her spot curled up on the floor just a short distance from relief, only she couldn't get to it. If anything, that made it worse. The idea she could be free from this crushing weight surrounding her if only she had been more rational.

She was supposed to be rational. She was supposed to think things through. She was a medic. This wasn't supposed to happen.

And now she was going to have to wait here, drowning in her own fear, suffocating, until the morning so someone could open the door.

She didn't understand what happened next at first. She had just been trying to at least stop hyperventilating when a faint ' _whoosh_ ' was heard in front of her. She snuck a glance upwards despite herself, then her head snapped up completely when she realized that the door had opened. Thunderbolt didn't know who opened it or when or how, but after feeling the faint breeze from outside, she scrambled to her peds and rushed outside.

The cold air of this planet's nights flowed over her frame and past her seams as she ran to the end of the metal platform that extended from the base. Her wings twitched in the wind as it registered the new atmosphere. They spread slowly to get more of it until they were almost at their normal resting position. Although she was still too afraid to spread them further than the confines of her body. The weight impounding in her chest slowly began to lift, yet she could tell it would take longer than a few moments and a breeze to get rid of it.

Thunderbolt wrapped her arms around herself once again as she began to recollect her higher functions into something she could make sense of. All the afflictions had begun to reverse, which allowed her to try and sort herself. And her next coherent thought was " _who opened the door?_ "

The light sounds of peds on metal could be heard behind her as who she assumed had just helped her approached. She turned around hesitantly to face them and was, admittedly, surprised to see the familiar form of her mentor standing just behind her. Although she didn't know why; it would only make sense for it to be him. Looking back with a clear frame of mind, she probably wasn't very subtle in her escape...

Ratchet didn't say anything right away as he looked down at her. He...didn't look mad, to say the least. Actually, it was hard to tell what he was thinking right now with that face. He looked...calm, perhaps? Certainly not any form of stern, at the moment. That was a relief, she supposed. Ratchet usually didn't take kindly to be woken up in the middle of the night.

The silence between the two of them lasted a few minutes longer, but just his presence alone was enough for Thunderbolt to calm her glitching nervous system. Or at least force it to stop firing uncontrollably. Her sensitive wings lost some more of their pent up tension as they slid further into a more comfortable resting position.

Yet his sudden movement was still enough to cause her to flinch as Ratchet shifted his weight and sat on the ground, legs crossed and his hands resting in his lap. She watched him do so stiffly, only relaxing again once he was settled. Her gaze returned to the area around them, namely the sky. It was quite cloudy out right now. The stars barely shone through to the surface where they sat, but it's not like she cared about how clear the sky was right now. It's bad flying weather, and it's not like a quick joy flight would help ease the pressure pushing against the sensor ridden surface of her wings...

She was lying to herself if you couldn't tell.

Thunderbolt let out a quiet sigh at that thought. As long as she didn't go back inside, she could wait until morning to fly around. Or until the weather cleared up, whichever came first.

Ignoring the urge to just take off anyway, she turned her attention back to Ratchet. He was still sitting calmly next to her, his own attention on the sky as well. Thunderbolt glanced over at her mentor for a few moments, contemplating what she should do. She was still trembling, she realized. No amount of focus was stopping that. She forced her arms, which had latched themselves protectively around her body, to lower back down to her sides as she followed Ratchet's lead. She sat down next to the CMO, wings tucking back, and crossed her own legs. It took every effort not to cling to herself again, and she consciously pulled her servos into her lap, clasping them together.

She felt Ratchet's optics turn to her, and she turned her own to the ground as a result. Although she didn't openly acknowledge the feeling, this whole thing felt rather embarrassing. This had only ever happened once before, but that situation had been completely justified. Her wings had been clamped and she had been restrained in a small area for months. Of course, the natural reaction was to panic then. But now? Now, what was her excuse? It had only been two weeks, not months. And she wasn't even a prisoner of any kind. She had been in there of her own free will, clamp-less and all. Yet it had still happened. She just wished she could control it...Or else her job was going to get harder as a result. Oh Primus, what was she gonna do if this happened again?! This was no longer just embarrassing, it was just straight up mortifying!

"Thunderbolt."

She was an Autobot medic! Autobots are grounders! A sickening feeling settled in her tanks at the idea that this could become a common occurrence. There were so few Autobot fliers...

"Thunderbolt!"

And the few that were fliers weren't even seekers, like herself. They could probably be on the ground all the time and be perfectly fine. She wasn't made for this job, she had come to terms with that a long, long time ago. But now it really was coming to bite her in the-

"THUNDERBOLT."

Her helm snapped up and out of her train of thought at the sound of her name. She looked up at Ratchet, whose body was now completely facing her. When had he moved?

"I...I uh...y-yea?" Thunderbolt managed to get out. She hadn't meant for her voice to be so small.

He paused briefly as if he hadn't really planned out what to say after he got her attention.

"...you need to calm down and focus on something other than...the claustrophobia."

His voice was steady and honestly quite gentle for someone she was used to seeing yell at bots for getting into all manners of sticky situations.

Thunderbolt stared at him blankly for a few moments, not quite grasping the meaning of his words right away. Her higher functions were still out of wack right now, but she did muster up enough coherence to mutter back a response of "oh...ok..."

She tried to do as he said and think about something not related to the weight still silently present in her chest, or the crushing feeling against her wings when she was inside, or... Great now she was just thinking about it more.

A cold shudder ran down her spine as she tried harder to push those thoughts out, but it was a struggle. Especially when those feelings still lingered over her like a thick atmosphere.

She then felt, rather suddenly, Ratchet's servo rest on her shoulder. Thunderbolt resisted the urge to cringe away from him and instead tried to relax into the feeling. His servo was heavy, of course. It was huge, especially compared to her's. But it also felt ready to pull away should she so give the indication that she didn't want it there. What came next she was sure neither of them was expecting.

Quietly, Thunderbolt shifted over to Ratchet, who was still partially facing her, and pulled herself into his side under his arm. She didn't quite understand how or when she did it, but it was surprisingly comfortable, all things considered. Her mentor was more visually surprised by the new development, as Thunderbolt latched her arms around him instead to keep him close and her servos steady. He was tense at first, but since she showed no sign of releasing him from this...hug, of sorts, he let his body relax. His arm slowly lowered around her but kept a loose distance in case her phobia acted up again and she needed to get away.

The small seeker had in fact realized after Ratchet had touched her that she needed to distinguish real sensations from the fake ones her phobia imposed. She needed to be in contact with something tangible to focus on. And the closest thing to her was her mentor. She had been afraid he would make her let go but was pleasantly surprised with him supporting her sudden clinginess. They had never really been very physically close unless it was required during a medical procedure. They didn't really hug each other, pick her up in Ratchet's case, or grab hold of him in Thunderbolt's. It was always professional in the medbay, and really outside of it too. Although she didn't plan on making this a habit, this was kind of nice.

She barely acknowledged Ratchet's arm and servo becoming more firmly planted around her as started to drift off again. It was still late, and her previous rest hadn't been very restful. Her wings twitched behind her back as they fell naturally. Her helm rested against his side as she stared at the distant, dark horizon. She closed her optics, unable to keep them open any longer with nothing to focus on.

Ratchet didn't say anything even as she slowly powered down. If he did, she hadn't heard him. That was fine. She didn't really expect him to say much right now anyway. She was okay with just letting her arms drop from their positions around him as eventually, she was able to recharge again. Thunderbolt only silently hoped he would still be there when she woke up tomorrow.


	2. Closure (ft. Starscream and OC)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Transformers IDW - featuring Starscream and OC Thunderbolt (ad. Windblade, Ironhide, subtle Nova (OC), subtle Deadbolt (OC))
> 
> Starscream had just revealed everything to the public during the candidate debate. Now he resides in prison, having made peace. The only loose end being with his thought to be dead kin, Thunderbolt. They reconcile after ending on a not-so-nice note.

“Windblade.”

The cityspeaker looked up from the reports she was going over. Ironhide was standing in the doorway with a stern look on his face. Well, more stern than usual.

“What is it, Ironhide? It’s not like you to just barge in,” Windblade joked slightly and stood from her desk.

“There are er...bots asking to speak to you. And they’re not leaving anytime soon, unfortunately,” Ironhide huffed bluntly.

“Do you recognize them?” she asked and exited from around her desk to join him.

“No,” Ironhide shook his helm. “But from what I can tell, two Decepticons and an Autobot.”

She raised an optic ridge at him and started walking outside with him. Once they exited the building, they were greeted by the sight of several Autobot guards surrounding the three Cybertronians on the front steps. The guards had their weapons at the ready, but the newcomers made no move to attack them. A good thing too. The Autobot, a white mech with his insignia rested on his chest, was massive, rivaling that of Megatron or even Fortress Maximus. He could crush everyone here if he wanted to.

Next to him were the two Decepticons Ironhide mentioned, insignias brandished blatantly in the light. The dark crimson mech with unique white decals was a grounder. He looked powerful too and was radiating a commanding presence despite having such a large Autobot next to him.

In front of the two of them was a yellow seeker with light blue accents. His expression was cold and almost unnervingly emotionless. Or maybe she..? They were formatted differently than most seekers, but they were still clearly a seeker. They stepped forward, and a few troops made a move to point their weapons at her, but one glare from that seeker and Windblade could see them visibly shrink back.

“You don’t know me,” they started. “I suspect no one really does these days.”

Windblade narrowed her optics at her in suspicion. The other two mechs continued to stand just behind her. She could even say that it looked like they were supporting her.

“I am here because there is someone in your prison I would like to see,” she continued.

“Oh? And who would that be, con?” Ironhide spoke up as Windblade met the yellow con’s gaze calmly.

“You know him well,” she answered with a glance at Ironhide before staring Windblade directly in the optics. “His name is Starscream.”

“You’re here to see _Starscream_?” Ironhide hissed and stomped up past Windblade and approached the outside of the ring of troops. “You can’t just come in here and demand to see him!”

“I'm not demanding anything. I'm asking. I’m not breaking in, I’m not barging in, I am asking,” she said calmly, even as Ironhide’s threatening fist looked like it was about to make contact with her face.

The red mech beside Windblade gritted his denta together and she held her servo up to halt him from advancing. Ironhide looked at her in mild surprise but huffed and backed off. But he had no intention of leaving.

“May I ask why you want to see him?” Windblade asked her, admittedly curious.

“Simple,” she sighed. “I’m ready. I haven’t been for a long time. But I’m ready to face him now. He’s revealed himself to the world. There’s no point in hiding anymore.”

“So then comes the question,” Ironhide spoke up again as Windblade paused. “Who are you? Why should we listen to you, much less your query?”

There was silence between all of them for a few moments, and Windblade was about to break the silence when the seeker spoke up.

“My name is Thunderbolt. Third division commander of the Decepticon army. And kin to the treacherous bastard in your basement.”

Windblade and Ironhide exchanged glances in shock. That had to be a lie, right? Kin? Her? To Starscream? And a Decepticon commander? How could she be a commander if not even Ironhide has heard of her before?

“What a load of-”

“Alright,” Windblade interjected before Ironhide could finish. “I will take you to see Starscream.”

The mech glared at her in surprise. “You can’t be serious?!"

“Starscream can tell us if she’s lying or not either way. If she’s lying, we will just bring her back here and have them leave.”

“But she could be trying anything! A breakout, an attack, a bombing, anything! We don’t know!”

“Then I guess we better be on close guard,” Windblade smiled at the veteran.

The troops separated to leave an area for her to pass through. But her two companions weren’t allowed to go with her. They both looked like they wanted to force their way through, but Thunderbolt just turned to them and nodded, “Deadbolt, Nova, I’ll be fine.”

They hesitated but nodded back and stayed put. Windblade led Thunderbolt away with Ironhide, a few more troops following close behind. She took her to the prison cells where they kept few bots, but everyone they needed to keep close. Starscream was in the very back, and they passed many cons as they went. Thunderbolt’s focus didn’t shift from directly in front of her. She paid no mind to all the cells around her or whoever was in them, which in any other situation, would be impressive.

They reached Starscream’s cell and the former con was sitting against the back wall with his optics closed. Windblade swore she could feel the seeker behind her tense as she knocked on the wall to alert Starscream. “Hey, Starscream. I have someone here to see you.”

Starscream opened his optics and looked forward somewhat curiously. “Is that so? Someone else who wants me dead?”

“At some point in time, I did,” Thunderbolt spoke up and stepped forward.

Windblade was taken aback by the slack-jawed look on Starscream’s face as he stood up immediately. His optics suddenly went from calm to a flurry of emotions, which the cityspeaker didn’t even know was possible.

“Thunderbolt…..” he muttered and walked up to the bars of his cell. “I...I...How…You were...killed…”

The seeker joined him in front of the bars and locked optics with him. “Wrong. I lived.”

Starscream flinched at those words as they watched each other. Thunderbolt was the one to break the gaze as she looked away from him.

“I...watched the debate,” Thunderbolt muttered. Starscream said nothing.

“It was...quite the show. Watching you expose everything you’ve ever done. I honestly thought by the end of it, I was only going to hate you more but… I see it differently now. So I came here because...because I want you to explain.”

“...Explain?” he asked.

“Yes. Explain. Tell me why. Why you did it,” she stated firmly and locked optics with him again. “Why did you abandon me? Why did you leave me to die? Did our relationship really mean that little to you? Just...why.”

Windblade and Ironhide both visually tensed behind her. This is what she had meant on the surface. She had been unable to face him because she had been angry at him. But now even she saw a change in Starscream and was ready to confront him.

Starscream looked slightly taken aback by the blunt question but turned his gaze away from her and to the ground. “There...There is no excuse for what I did...I know that…”

“Then tell me why you did it,” Thunderbolt asked again. “I just want to understand. I’ve spent the rest of my life after that moment hating you, _despising_ you for everything. But...we’re kin, aren’t we? I have to believe you’ve changed.”

Starscream hesitated before glancing at Windblade and Ironhide. “Could you...leave us to talk?”

Ironhide opened his mouth to object, but Windblade intervened quickly. “Of course. Take your time.”

She turned and headed outside, leading the troops behind her. Ironhide glared suspiciously at the two of them one last time before following. Windblade knew Starscream was different now. This would be good for him.

Once they left, Starscream looked back at Thunderbolt, who hadn’t taken her attention off of him this whole time.

“I suppose I should start talking now,” Starscream muttered and sat down in front of the bars. Thunderbolt followed suit and faced him.

“I...never wanted to hurt you, for starters,” he sighed. “The opposite, in fact. I wanted to protect you.”

“Protect me?” she scoffed. “From what?”

Starscream looked at the ground as his shoulders slumped slightly. “Megatron.”

Thunderbolt looked at him in surprise, her optics widened at even the notion. “Megatron? Why would he have harmed me? I was one of his best commanders.”

“Because at that time, I was actively trying to overthrow him. His violent tirade had been reaching an overflowing point, and I believed his ambitions for a just and peaceful Cybertron were falling out of mind. He was quickly becoming suspicious of my actions though, and he…he…”

“He attacked Thundercracker and Skywarp,” Thunderbolt finished and Starscream looked up in shock. “I know. I heard about that. I had assumed you three had done something to piss him off at the time. I wasn’t aware it had been unprovoked.”

“It wasn’t entirely unprovoked,” he muttered. “He was convinced that they were helping me pull off my traitorous schemes and tried to convince them to reveal information they didn’t have. Skywarp and Thundercracker were completely out of the loop. But he attacked them because of _me_. I had to convince him- to show him that I had no ties with them- with anyone I was close to...So I started pushing everyone away…

“I knew none of you would support me overthrowing our ‘glorious leader’. And I couldn’t bear for you to be punished at the end of the day for me. As for that battle…”

Thunderbolt perked up a little at him as Starscream continued. “I saw it as an opportunity to prove to Megatron that I didn’t care about you. I figured that having you hate me for the rest of eternity would be better than the possibility of you dying trying to defend me. I thought...I thought you could escape on your own. When we received news that you had actually been _executed_ in captivity, I...I.....”

They were both silent for a time before Thunderbolt spoke up, “Do you want to know how I lived?”

It was Starscream’s turn to perk his helm up slightly. He didn’t answer so she continued.

“It was a spy. A Decepticon one, mind you. He helped me escape my cell and replaced me with a clone of sorts. It had no emotion, it was just a shell. But he had gotten word several Autobots were going to kill me today and wouldn’t allow it. I don’t know who it was, but he took me deep below Iacon, close to the core of the planet, and I entered an emergency stasis pod. He told me he’d come to get me when the coast was clear. He was the only one who knew where I was. I suppose he never got the opportunity to retrieve me again.”

Starscream’s optics widened at her. “How long were you down there?”

“Two million years, give or take. I awoke shortly before Cybertron’s revival.”

“And... I almost don’t want to ask, but what about your minicons? You had two, right? Weren't they captured with you?”

“Yes. Circuitstream and Voltswitch,” Thunderbolt nodded to him. “I had thought the Autobots had killed them as well. But they’re alive and well. They remain on the ship when I go out in case of medical emergencies.”

“That’s good,” Starscream exhaled. He paused briefly as he appeared to gather his thoughts before he locked optics with her. “Thunderbolt, I’m sorry. I acted on pure selfishness. Nothing could ever atone for what I’ve done.”

She didn’t say anything as her optics scanned his, her spark aching in her chest. She didn’t know what to think. He clenched his fists in his lap and broke their gaze to stare at the ground, silent. His optics had filled with a sense of sadness. Something Thunderbolt honestly never thought she would ever see. He was sorry. He was truly, truly sorry. And she didn’t know what compelled her to do this, but she did. She took the advantage of no one else here knowing what she could do and acted.

She sent a jolt of electricity into his cell’s activation from her servo through the floor and up the wall. The device fizzed and the cell bars came down. It was only temporary, and she knew it wouldn’t last very long.

A few alarms went off outside that she could hear, but she didn’t care. Starscream looked up at her in surprise, but not a second later, she lunged forward and wrapped her arms around his waist where he sat. Starscream jerked back slightly as he was unprepared for the assault, but quickly welcomed the feeling. Thunderbolt rested her helm against his chest as he returned the gesture by wrapping his arms around her tightly and placing his face in her shoulder.

The door to the cellblock opened and Windblade and Ironhide both rushed in prepared to fight, and instead froze in their tracks. Windblade felt herself smile as Ironhide’s jaw practically dropped to the floor at the sight of Starscream hugging anyone.

Thunderbolt muttered something to him in what Windblade recognized as Decepticon code and Starscream chuckled. They both looked up and pressed their helms against the others with a smile. Both were glad to finally get some closure to their relationship as they both closed their optics.

“The bars are going to reactivate shortly,” Thunderbolt muttered as she ran her servos over his.

“A few more seconds aren’t going to hurt anyone,” Starscream mumbled back and moved his arm to clasp her servo in his.

“Except maybe your paranoid companions behind me. Ironhide has a servo on his gun,” she sighed and opened her optics to look at him.

“As if I would let him harm you after all this time,” he scoffed quietly in response.

She couldn’t resist the small laugh that broke as his servos squeezed hers. “I’ll come back to visit. If they let me after I’ve broken into your cell.”

“They better,” Starscream smirked.

The two stood up and stayed together for a few more seconds, and he hesitated before releasing his grip on her, and the two separated. Thunderbolt walked back to her side of the bars and the energy beams returned not a moment after.

"What made you think that deactivating our cell bars was an okay thing to do?!" Ironhide snapped as soon as they separated.

“I didn’t touch the control panel,” Thunderbolt hummed. She wasn’t lying; Starscream knew what happened as he smirked at her. She smiled back at him before turning back to Windblade and Ironhide with a straight face. “It shorted out. You should get that checked.”

Thunderbolt walked towards them and stopped in front of the two. She crossed her arms and tilted her helm as Ironhide glared at her. He opened his mouth to argue and she interrupted, “Feel free to check the security footage.”

Windblade looked past her at Starscream as he stood next to his cell bars. His optics were on Thunderbolt only. He was happy. That was good.

“Well, you’ve had your visit, now let’s go,” Ironhide huffed.

"Of course. No need to rush," she responded calmly with a small tilt of the helm. She seemed happy too.

The three of them, as well as the other guards, made their way back outside the prison and to the small circle of Autobots surrounding Thunderbolt's dangerous-looking companions. The large, white Autobot had sat down, bringing him manageably lower to the ground. But if anything, his bulk made him look intimidating yet despite the laid back energy he radiated while leaning back on his servos. The crimson mech next to him, on the other hand, hadn't moved much. He was still standing, back straight, arms crossed, weight distributing slightly to his right, and observing the surrounding area closely.

Once Thunderbolt came into view of the two mechs, she had their attention immediately. The white mech stood up from where he was rigidly and the other's gaze hardened, albeit with an edge of curiosity.

The circle broke briefly to let Thunderbolt back into it, and both Windblade and Ironhide took places just outside again. Ironhide looked like he was going to speak up, but was quickly interrupted by the white mech.

"Well, Bolt? How'd it go?"

Since she had left Starscream's presence, her expression had gone back to being placid and cold. But not emotionless, this time. It seemed the two mechs could tell. After all, she didn't have to say anything for the other to comment a few moments later.

"I see. Then I assume we may refer to him by his name now on the ship?"

"Yea, calling him you-know-who every single time we wanna talk about Starscream is kinda annoying," the larger mech scoffed jokingly.

The seeker glared at him. "At yet, you do it anyway, Nova."

"Of course I do. No one needs ya electrocuting the scrap out of anyone just cuz their tongue slipped," the white mech, Nova, grinned. Which earned him a low growl from Thunderbolt in response.

The other, Deadbolt, interrupted before the seeker could retort. "That's enough you two. We've finished our business here. Let's go."

"Now hold up!" Ironhide butt in just as he said that. "We can't just let you saunter off!"

"Why not?" Nova huffed, giving the red veteran an annoyed look. "We didn't do anything wrong. This is technically still public space."

"Not only did you just waltz up to our front door and ask to speak to one of our highly guarded prisoners, but you're dangerous! Anyone with half a brain module can see that!"

Deadbolt's previously lax expression hardened at that expression, and in seconds looked like he was ready to take his head clean off.

"Honestly," Thunderbolt sneered. "I'd like to see you try and stop us from leaving. Since we're so dangerous."

"You can't just-"

"Ironhide," Windblade cut in curtly, calmly placing a servo on his shoulder. "Let's let them go. They're right, they haven't done anything wrong. And I don't think we would be a match for them either."

"Ah, a reasonable answer," the crimson mech hummed, his face returning to its previously lax expression. "It's wise that the ruler of Cybertron not die after such short a time in office."

Windblade resisted the shudder that went down her spine at how smoothly he said that. He had no concern that he would lose at all. It was sort of impressive.

Ironhide's optic visually twitched as he said that, but before he could shout out his next string of probable curses, Deadbolt cut him off by speaking into his comm.

"Activate the space bridge, Soundblaster. We're coming back."

Not a few seconds later, a large portal of sorts opened behind them. The two Autobots outside the circle stepped back in surprise. Since when could a space bridge open anywhere there wasn't a station? What was going on?

Deadbolt took advantage of their shock and didn't hesitate to walk through the new portal, Nova following close behind him. Thunderbolt turned to follow as well but paused. She faced Windblade slightly and spoke over the hum of the swirling mass behind her. "Thank you for your cooperation, ruler of Cybertron. And we hope you pardon our sudden departure. We have work to get to."

With that, she too disappeared into the portal, and the sight vanished as fast as it had appeared.

Windblade and Ironhide stood speechless for several moments after that. Although while Ironhide was effectively pissed off, Windblade couldn't help but crack a small smile. She was going to be seeing them around, that was for sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, the ending got kind of lazy, so apologies on that part. But it's not really the important bit, so um, *shrug*


End file.
